Love the TE commits but would like to see more DE commits. I wonder just how good Carr is. Is it possible they think he can step in and start next season? He'll have almost as much game experience as Angeli.
It wouldn’t surprise me if we take another transfer portal QB if The right one appears. We really don’t have a backup with any game time experience. Look for Angeli to transfer if we do.
It was a crazy football Saturday yesterday. Lot of highly ranked teams struggled to wins. I kept changing channels all day and eve long to keeping up. I also put myself through the torture of watching the Pitt/Wake game. They are both terrible but somehow Wake with a 3rd string QB managed to win. Unbelievably the win came on a TD pass to the end zone from the Wake QB who didn’t seem to know how to pass almost the whole game!! How this Pitt team beat Louisville is beyond my comprehension.
Just heard some good news at least as far as I’m concerned, the Clemson Game will be an afternoon time start not an evening. I still have bad memories of the game ND played there at night a few years ago.
They were talking today on ESPNU about something that happened in the Pitt/Wake game, implied that the refs made some terrible call that changed the outcome. Do you know what it was?
Pitt QB ran the ball then slid for what looked like a 1st down but refs called it short. Wake gets the ball them a drove for game winning TD.
As I noted earlier there has been internet speculation that the Irish would take another transfer QB. So the speculation led to somebody asking Coach Freeman the question. Also I have seen some names of potential Portal QB's. Washington State QB is one of them. On potentially taking a quarterback in the Transfer Portal: ”I think all options right now are in consideration. That’s something we said we’ll truly discuss the second bye week on what is going to be a decision moving forward. I feel really good about the future of our program at the quarterback position with the guys coming in and the guys we have here. You look at numbers too. Most rosters have four quarterbacks on scholarship, which we lost when Tyler (Buchner) left. We’ve been in discussions with what we want to do. Do you want to take another quarterback or do you not? We have three quarterbacks on scholarship right now. We’ll make a final decision as we get into the next bye week. I’m really confident in the growth with Kenny and Steve Angeli.”
Ref Portal QB: It would be nice if our opener next year were at home but it’s at Texas A&M. That’s a tough place for a untested ND QB to start.
I read an article that said that Freeman wants legacy kids like James Flanigan and Bryce Young as long as they are Power 5 players, which both are. They are also very hopeful that Jerome Bettis Jr will also come to ND.
Might be adding to the 2025 class soon. The 247Sports Crystal Ball is a tool recruiting analysts use to show exactly where a recruit might end up. On Friday, a new prediction went in regarding a top target potentially landing with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. I’m tossing in a pick for Indianapolis (Ind.) Warren Central edge-rusher Damien Shanklin to Notre Dame. I believe the Fighting Irish lead for the 6-4, 230-pounder, who is a three-star per 247Sports and a four-star according to the composite rankings.
Rico Flores gets the start today at WR. True freshman who has made some good plays and is taking advantage of the issues with the WR's in general. Other question is what will happen with Tobias Merriweather, they keep saying he has the most speed of the WR's, but his production has been spotty at the least. Other thing I want to see is a better design to the running game. As has been noted a lot, the running game seems stuck in neutral with most of the criticism coming from the design of the running game. It's hurt the passing game as teams feel they can load up the box to stop our run because our WR's aren't much of a threat. Needs to change.
Hartman with 2 picks and the Pitt defense is abusing the Irish OL,Hartman under a lot of pressure and not much room to run. But we've been saved by 2 picks by Xavier Watts and a Punt return TD by Chris Tyree. We had a TD called back late on IMHO a ticky tacky offensive PI on the TD to Evans, then for some reason Freeman bleeds the clock down so that Pitt won't get the ball back, but nobody understands why their offense has been bad and what Jason Garrett predicted happened...we ended up 1st and goal and no time to run a play other than kick the FG. Another Freeman "learning on the job' moment. But 17-0, even though is probably should be at least 21-0 or worse is still a lead. Maybe the offense will figure something out in the 2nd half and we'll win going away. But first goal is to win.
The 2nd half was a dream come true, good offense, good defense, good special teams and lots of scoring. I didn't see 58 points after we only put up 17 in the first half and the Pitt defense sort of dominated our OL and forced Sam Hartman into 2 picks. Glad to see an appearance of Tobias Merriweather on the stat sheet, excellent catch and run. I hated to see Mitchel Evans go out with an apparent knee injury. When they have to he helped off the field that's never a good thing. A thin TE room got thinner maybe. Cooper Flanigan and Holden Staes are it unless Eli Rairdon is ready to play. We have some walk-ons but Evans loss will hurt. Morrison should be back next week as should Cam Hart who went out during the game. On the upside it's great to get some young guys real time experience even if it was against a weak offense.
For those thinking that the schedule had worn the team out and that they desperately needed a break, yesterday seemed to prove the point. I'm hoping Evans had a hyperextension and not ligament damage. It wasn't a blow from the side which usually does the worst type of damage. Nice to see so many young kids get to play rather early in the game.
Without Evans, Freeman said Eli Raridon will be asked to do more as a pass catcher. Also said Holden Staes and Cooper Flanagan will be expected to step up. Freeman said the No. 1 reason Flanagan has played so much as a true freshman this season has been his blocking and physicality, a trait not others have. Also said he’s taken strides as a pass-catcher.